The old-fashioned approach is to “score” the paper with a knife or a tool that you roll across the surface to poke little holes in the wallpaper. Then you spray a stripping agent that soaks into the holes to loosen the glue. Finally, you scrape and scrape — and then scrape some more.

Using awallpaper steamer eases the job, but lifting the heavy unit can be difficult. Now I’ve found another method that makes removing wallpaper almost as simple as peeling a banana. In the Wallwik system (wallwik.com; kits start at $27.99), reusable fabric sheets are soaked in a dissolving solution and applied to the papered walls.

This keeps moisture at the surface, loosening the paste. You still have to score the wallpaper before stripping it, but about 30 minutes after you’ve applied the wet sheets, you can remove them, and the old wallpaper peels right off.